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-fJ-5 

(61& 



UNCLOSETED SKELETON 



AN 



Uncloseted Skeleton 

By 

LUCRETIA PEABODY HaLE 

and 

Edwin Lassetter Bynner 



r 



BOSTON 

TICKNOR AND COMPANY 

211 Tremont Street 



* 






Copyright, 1887, by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., 

AND 1888, BY TlCKNOR & Co. 






John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



Quite in keeping with the remarkable character 
of the fubjoined papers is the way in which the 
underfigned became affociated in editing them for 
publication. 

A bunch of old letters found in a cheft of drawers 
bought by one of the Editors at the clofmg-out fale 
of an old houfe in Boylflon Place, fome loofe pa- 
pers, including a fragment of a diary and other 
letters difcovered behind a joift in the chimney 
clofet at the recent difmantling of the Tavern Club, 
— only a {tone's throw from Boylfton Place, — and 
given by a member of the Club to the other Editor, 

form 



Prefatory Note. 



form the material from which felections are given 
below. 

At a chance meeting of the Editors foon after, 
thefe poffeffions having been carnally mentioned, it 
was discovered, to the furprife and gratification of 
both, that the manufcripts were parts of a former 
whole, — difjected members, in fact, of an old-time 
family fkeleton. 

The frequent gaps which will be noted in the texl 
are due in part to omiffions made by the Editors foi 
prudential reafons, and partly to the dilapidate* 
ftate of the manufcripts, which have fuffered greatly 
from the ravages of mildew and rats. 



lucretia peabody hale. 
Edwin Lassetter Bynner 






UNCLOSETED SKELETON. 



AN 



UNCLOSETED SKELETON. 



Boston, Feb'y 6, 1832. 

My dear Brother, — For aught I know, 
you may be in Crim Tartary or Cathay. I 
mention thofe places as fynonyms of vague- 
nefs and diftance, without the leaft notion 
where they are. The Footftool was never 
thought of as an obje6l for ftudy in Phillips 
Place when I went to fchool there. But 
wherever you may be, my letters always feem 
to reach you, though, ftrange to fay, I get 
very few of yours in return. Are you aware 
that 't is nearly four years fmce you went 

abroad ? 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 



abroad ? Do you forget that you are an 
American citizen ? Are you ever coming 
back ? I warn you, if you do not come foon, 
you will feel like the Dutchman in Mr. Irv- 
ing' s ffcory, who waked up after a fleep of 
twenty years to find everybody changed 
beyond recognition. 

The trouble is, you are getting out of con- 
ceit with your own country. I read what you 
faid in Aunt Maria's letter about our provin- 
cialifm, — that we are fure to be either prim, 
priggifh, or vulgar. I fay, Pooh ! For my- 
felf, I infill that I am open to none of thofe 
charges. Come, now, I challenge you to the 
proof ! 

No ; the beam is in your own eye. You 
are getting fpoiled. You are falling into hor- 
rid, loofe, unwholefome foreign ways. You 're 
forgetting your horn-book too ; you fpell 
agreeable with one e. Confefs, now, Joe, that 
you eat your breakfaft at noon, take brandy 

in 



An Undo feted Skeleton. 



in your coffee, and are cultivating a liking for 
frogs' legs. I dare not even think of how you 
fpend the Sabbath. Such proceedings may 
be all very — what you call " chic." I will 
not afk what that means. I don't want to 
know. Tis an odious and immoral-looking 
word, and I am profoundly thankful that I 
have none of the quality reprefented by fuch 
a finifter combination of letters. 

Meantime, you prefume on the fact, that you 
are an only brother, and count on my weak- 
nefs to forgive your unnatural neglect, — your 
fcraps of letters and interminable filences. 
You think to keep me quiet by an occafional 
gewgaw, and doing a bit of mopping now and 
then, — the latter always with much proteft 
and grumbling. 

Aunt Maria thinks you 're an expert in 
mopping. That lace fcarf converted her ; it 
certainly was a miracle of elegance. I mould 
never have f ufpected you of fuch tafte. 

Poor 



io An Unclofeted Skeleton.^ 

Poor Aunt Maria ! fhe has had a great 
trial. I pity her with all my . . . He 's 
quite grown up now, and a dear boy. No, 
't is not becaufe I 'm a doting fpinfler ; he is 
really a handfome, manly fellow, with an un- 
ufual air — people turn to look after him on 
the ftreet ; with fine inftincts too, and quiet, 
cordial manners. For all of that, and ftrictly 
between ourfelves, he is not bright, — indeed, 
Joe, to plump out the bald, unpleafant truth, 
he is downright ftupid ; but not a whit more, 
after all, than his father was. Aunt Maria 
would die if fhe fufpected me of fuch a 
thought, for fhe infifts — it exafperates me to 
hear her — that Ralph is like our family, and 
" all Clyde." 

Be that as it may — where was I? Oh! 
about this prefent thunderbolt. You know 
what pains and expenfe have been lavifhed 
upon Ralph's education ! Well, on his exam- 
ination at Cambridge laft fall he was heavily 

conditioned. 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 



conditioned. Aunt Maria was fhocked to her 
heart's core. Not a murmur efcaped her, how- 
ever ; fhe ftraightway got a tutor, and prodded 
Ralph night and day to make up the condi- 
tions. Three months of this, and now comes 
the tutor and tells her that Ralph can never 
make up the conditions, that it is n't in him ; 
and the confequence is he will be " dropped." 

You know Aunt Maria ; fhe will never rally 
from fuch a difgrace. She has been inordi- 
nately ambitious for Ralph ; he was to be a 
great orator, ftatefman, and I know not what. 
For me, I confefs I don't care a fnap for him to 
be a ftatefman ; I love him better for his ftupid- 
ity : but his poor mother is broken-hearted, 
and has nearly cried her eyes out about it. 

So much for family matters ; and now for a 
more agreeable piece of news. Yefterday, 
coming out of No. 2 Otis Place, I met your 
dear friend Tho ... He has lately . . . ; but 
the public has not yet got wind of it. 

" Nothing 



12 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

"Nothing in this .ftupid town to intereft a 
man," do you fay? On the contrary, there 
is a diffracting variety of things. For the 
political, there is always the Prefident and 
his kitchen-cabinet, with juft now the great 
" Cherokee Case," which I heard Mr. Sturgis 
and William Sullivan hotly debating the other 
day on Pearl Street as I was coming down the 
fteps of the Athenaeum. For the fteady-going, 
there are the Franklin Lectures and the So- 
ciety for the Diffufion of Ufeful Knowledge. 
For the gay, there is to be a brilliant party 
this very week at Dr. War ... and a very 
ftartling bit of goffip which . . . although 
nobody believes he will ever come back. For 
the play-goers, there is Mr. Selby's benefit at 
the Tremont Theatre, where will be prefented 
" The Moorifh Bride," with Mrs. Barrett after- 
wards in " Cherry Bounce." For the afpiring, 
— like Aunt Maria, — there 's the profound in 
art and philofophy. She is deep in Beetho- 
ven. 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 13 

ven. You remember her ear for mufic, and 
what frightful difcords fhe always made in her 
bafs ? No matter for that ! She has a Ger- 
man now who comes daily to play Beethoven 
to her. He plays for hours and hours, inter- 
minable fonatas and fuch things, — he has 
nearly pounded her piano to pieces ; while 
fhe fits by, dumb, abftracted, with up-rolled 
eyes. Do not fuppofe that is all ! When 
was fhe ever content with one firing to her 
bow ? She is going at the fame time to Pro- 
feffor Follen's lectures on Goethe and Schiller ; 
fhe is fairly rabid over German ; and with it 
all quotes the moft incomprehenfible fluff from 
Carlyle, who, I am firmly convinced, muft be 
a madman. 

Amongft all thefe " ifms " in the air, I hold 
faft to my fmall ftore of common-fenfe, and 
make the moft of my quiet opportunities. 
The other evening I heard Wafhington Allfton 
read fome paffages from his unpublifhed poem, 

called 



14 An Unelqfeted Skeleton. 

called " The Romance of Monaldi." I had a 
few words with him afterwards, and he told 
me his purpofe of painting a large picture on 
the fubjecf. of Belfhazzar's feaft. 

This reminds me : all Bofton is in fack- 
cloth and afhes this very minute on account 
of another artift, and one of its moft eminent 
citizens. Domingo Williams is no more ! 
Who will ever again brandifh a tray of whip- 
ped creams fo reckleffly and artiftically over 
our heads, ftriking terror to our fouls at his 
approach, and bearing away our admiration 
and gratitude as he retired ! 

What do you think is Aunt Maria's lateft 
fcheme with regard to Ralph ? But I will 
fave that for my next ; you have far more now 
than you deferve. Confefs it, and mow your 
gratitude in the way moft pleafmg to your 
devoted and affectionate filter, 

Patty. 

Boston, 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 



Boston, . . . 1832. 
. . . Yes, my dear Joe, the . . . have come 
duly to hand, and the German books along 
with them. I waited, before writing, until I 
could report progrefs. Well, I have begun ; 
I ftrangle myfelf daily with the ichs and ocks, 
and purfe up my lips for the modified u till I 
feel like an umlaut myfelf. Calvert, too, has 
turned up with the volumes of Schiller, after 
having lain, I know not how long, fubmerged 
in the Elbe. Think how this has fanclified 
them in the eyes of Aunt M. and her old 
German profeffor ! That dear Herr K., he is 
a miracle of amiability and uglinefs; and when 
I fuddenly whip out fome of my newly ac- 
quired phrafes, as " Wie gehfs heute" etc., he 
opens wide his Teutonic mouth, mowing his 
one lone folitary bicufpid, and looks like noth- 
ing in life but a gargoyle. Aunt M. fays 
my accent is very bad, — our accent, I mould 

fay, 



1 6 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

fay, for Rachel Cleverly ftudies with me, and 
fhe is a regular polyglot. What matters the 
accent, after all ? we underftand each other. 
'T is the Ueberfetzung that tells ; and you 
fhould juft hear us " overfet." 

From all of this our dear Ralph is fhut out ; 
he defpifes the whole thing. " Drudgery " he 
calls it ; infifts that girls like drudgery, and 
when they have no houfework to do, ferret 
around till they find fomething worfe. Hec&r- 
tainly has no touch of any fuch weaknefs ; has 
been ftudying Latin two whole years, and 
could not this minute conjugate the auxiliary 
verbs to fave himfelf from inftant annihilation. 
He ought to have gone to Mifs Peabody, as 
we did. She pounded the whole verbal fyftem 
into us, till even George B. Emerfon, who, you 
know, teaches every girl in Bofton at fome 
time in her life, declares that the Peabody 
girls know their Latin grammar as well as 
their " Bean porridge hot." 

Ralph 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 17 

Ralph rolls up his nofe in a fine, four-grape 
difdain at all this. Let him do it, — the facts 
remain the fame ; one fignificant fact being 
that he has juft been "rufticated" with Mrs. 
Ripley at Waltham. They fay fhe has great 
fuccefs with fuch youths, and we live in prayer- 
ful hope that fhe may develop fyntax in Ralph's 
head. 

. . . Now about Aunt Maria's fcheme that 
I wrote you of. She is determined that 
Ralph mail marry Georgiana Carey. You re- 
member her as a little girl, — with curls all 
hanging down her back ? Well, they hang 
now from the top of her head, toffing, tumb- 
ling, dafhing, and foaming like a mountain- 
brook. What is more, fhe is a great heirefs. 
Her uncle Vickers has died in China, where, 
you know, he made no end of money, and has 
left it all to her. Now, I never mould accufe 
dear Aunt Maria of worldly-mindednefs. But 
you can't wonder that (he mould look out a 
2 little 



1 8 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

little for Ralph, the rather that he never will 
look out for himfelf. He is a great favorite ; 
all the girls like him. Even if he is condi- 
tioned at college, he dances juft as well ; is 
always punctual at Papanti's, though he cuts 
his Greek. The incomparable " Papanti," you 
know, has taken the place of old M. Guigon, 
— much to Aunt M.'s difguft ; for JJie confid- 
ered Guigon the glafs of fafhion and the 
mould, etc. ; " But who," quoth fhe, " is this 
new man?" Well, we never bother our 
heads who he is ; we all like him, and even I 
make my way to his afternoon claffes in Som- 
erfet Place ; we have fuch a pleafant fet there. 
About Ralph — you fee Aunt Maria expected 
to fpend her whole earthly eftate, if need be, 
on his college education ; then he would fol- 
low in your footfteps, be fent to Germany, to 
come back after a few years an acknowledged 
" profeffor." But he is fo ftupid about ftudy 
... If, then, he would only fall to admiring 

Georgiana, 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 1 9 

Georgian a, all would be well, for it is fuffi- 
ciently plain that flie admires him ; and with 
money, no matter about the profefforfhip and 
the verbs. . . . 

Aunt M. . . . me has always fo many 
irons in the fire . . . ; the lateft is the Polifh 
refugees ! She is fairly boiling over with 
ardor . . . One of them — her particular pet 
— I do believe fhe will end by inviting to 
ftay here ! She thinks it is too expenfive for 
him at Mrs. Le Kain's. Ludovic Radzinfki 
is his delightful name. She came very near 
putting him up into your old room. But hap- 
pily, at this juncture, came a frefh claimant 
upon her fympathies; and it really is awkward 
for her to decide between the two. Rachel 
Cleverly, you fee, that dear, delightful girl, is 
here waiting to find fomething to do ; for 
perhaps you have not heard Mr. Cleverly loft 
all his money in a great fire that burnt up 
his ftore-rooms, and . . . but luckily fhe has 

always 



20 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

always been fuch a fcholar — one of the firft 
in Mr. Emerfon's fchool — that fhe is now 
all ready to teach, if fhe can only find a 
clafs . . . 

Boston, May i, 1832. 
... I fent off my laft letter in a great 
hurry, fuddenly finding that if I meant it to 
hit the next veffel from New York, . . . fo 
fet about this a little earlier, efpecially as I 
have fomething to tell. Aunt M. has not 
only hunted up a clafs for Rachel, but fhe has 
invited her to fpend the winter here ! Her 
benevolence had no fooner impelled her to 
this, than what do you think rofe up to dif- 
courage her? Your prophetic foul may have 
already grafped it. She feared that Ralph, 
her dear Ralph, would fall in love with Rachel 
and poverty, inftead of wealth and Georgiana. 
"It would be the inevitable confequence ! " 
fhe faid to me gloomily as we difcuffed the 
queftion whether to give Rachel the " upper 

ftudy," 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 2 1 

ftudy," or whether to fit it up for the Pole. 
For here was indeed a temptation that per- 
haps affifted her uncertainty about alking 
Rachel. I am afraid that a little infmuation 
of mine decided the point- " Suppofe /mould 
fall in love with Ludovic ?" faid I naughtily. 
It came upon her like a bomb, — you know her 
literalnefs ; fhe took me alphabetically, and I 
really believe fhe now fears the " inevitable 
confequence " for me more than for Ralph and 
Rachel. The Pole is fo interefting an exile, — 
no home, no money, able to talk any language 
invented at Babel ; indeed, may have lived at 
that time, being one of thofe ever-old, ever- 
young human riddles, with his black locks 
ftreaked with gray, his myfterious eyes, etc. 
Why fhould n't I fall in love with him ? Left 
you too take alarm, I will confide in you that 
I am proof againft fafcinations of that kind, 
though I feel for his woes. But . . . and the 
rifk of it all decided Aunt M. ; fo Rachel 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 



is here, and Ralph is fail learning to like her, 
fpite of all her erudi . . . and fhe certainly 
returns the compliment. Who could help it, 
indeed, even if . . . Why, if I were not . . . 
years older than he, I . . . with his handfome 
face and his impulfive ways. Such a nice little 
fchool as Aunt M. has got together for Ra- 
chel, — girls from juft the "belt" families. She 
goes to their houfes in turn, and is away all the 
morning, ftudying hard in the intervals. . . . 

Don't you ever fay again that we have no 
excitement in Bolton. Such a domeitic up- 
heaval and focial ferment ; everything and 
everybody . . . and I don't quite know where 
to begin. . . . But I mult confefs that my 
own head is juft a little turned by this lalt of 
Aunt M.'s infatuations ; for we furely have 
now in Bolton a guelt worthy her enthuliafm. 
I began by being very fceptical, and made 
game a bit of the whole thing ; and even yet 
hold myfelf in check againlt arriving too foon 

at 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 



at the goal of belief in telling human character 
by bumps. 

But I have been to two of his lectures, and 
miffed the third only becaufe it came upon the 
night of Aunt M.'s reception for her pet Pole 
. . . and pray don't fufpect me of laughing at 
them ! — the Poles. No, indeed ; I pity them 
from the bottom of . . . and made two pin- 
cufhions for the fair . . . where Georgiana 
had a table which the gilded youth befieged, 
and we had fome verfes printed about them, 
— the refugees, I mean. 

But to come back to the lectures. I have n't 
told yet who gave them : well, then, 't was no 
other nor lefs a perfon than the great Ger- 
man phrenologift, Dr. Spurzheim. He is here 
actually in the flefh, — and plenty of it too, — 
flaying at Mrs. Le Kain's . . . And fuch a 
fubject for Aunt M.'s ecftatics ; fhe is in the 
front rank of his devotees . . . and actually 
had him here to tea only laft Thurfday . . . 

Not 



24 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

Not a little difmayed, for we had neither 
fauerkraut, faufage, Limburger, nor any other 
of their horrid dainties, I went down to tea 
cafed in a mail-coat of prejudice ; but in a trice 
he difarmed and converted me by a well- 
aimed fhaft of flattery. " What e-day-ahl-ity ! 
What e-me-tah-tif power ! " he exclaimed, gaz- 
ing admiringly at the top of my head. " Are 
you an artift, Mees Clyde ? " I blufhed like a 
. . . and ftraightway fell into rank as one of 
his ftancheft followers. How, indeed, to help 
it, for he is Brobdingnagian in his appearance 
and amiability. It turns out, too, that he is 
profoundly interefted in our Pole, — not in his 
exile, but in his brain-difeafe ; and as they are 
both in the fame houfe . . . and every oppor- 
tunity to ftudy his patient . . . Talking of his 
head, faid the Pole had remarkable bumps of 
language, eventuality, memory, fpeaks half 
the known languages, learned and unlearned, 
whereupon I fuggefted that his brain-difeafe 

might 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 25 

might be nothing more than his verbs rattling 
around in his head. 

Of courfe all the world go to the lectures, 
and fome of his rabid admirers — Aunt M. 
among the reft — are going down to his courfe 
in Salem to hear them all over again. 

Boston, ... 4, 1832. 
Dear Joe, — ... and fuch a delightful let- 
ter ought to give frefh wings — I mould fay 
feathers — to my pen, that I might . . . and 
fend down fome joyous carol from the upper 
air ; but alas ! you muft be contented for this 
once with an earth-born wail. For why ? 
Becaufe, having flipped full on horrors, I am 
now ftretched upon the confequential rack. 
Laft night Ralph and the reft perfuaded me to 
go and fee Forreft in the " Gladiator;" and bit- 
terly I have paid the penalty, wreftling the 
livelong night in the clutches of nightmare, 
wherein I feemed to be fwimming or floating, 

'neath 



26 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

'neath lurid Ikies, in feas of blood. Tragedies 
are in the air ; next week there is to be pre- 
fented a new one by Caroline Lee Hentz, — 
" Werdenburgh, or the Foreft League." So 
we . . . 

If you look at your " Advertifer " of this date 
carefully, you will fee that " a beautiful large, 
fat green turtle, freih from the water, will be 
ferved this day at Tremont Reffcorator, Tudor 
Building, Court Street, — foup fent to any 
part of the city." And now, my dear gour- 
mand, don't you wifh you were here ? For 
Aunt M. has ordered fome of the fame, not 
to entertain aldermen, but her laft new hero ! 
Is n't fhe fortunate to have fet her dinner on 
that day . . . 

Oh, my dear, dear brother ! fuch . . . terri- 
ble news . . . How can I ever tell you ? The 
flippant tone at the beginning of this will 
fhovv how fudden, how crufhing a fhock it has 

been 



A 11 Unclofeted Skeleton. 2 7 

been to us . . . and Aunt M., how can fhe 
furvive it ? . . . Her whole life has been 
devoted to him. I do believe fhe has only 
loved him more for her very difappoint- 
ment in him ; and what has fhe left befide ? 
True, fhe has always been fond of you and 
me ; but what was that feeling to her love for 
Ralph ? Let me, however, halten to fay he is 
(fill living ; there is hope in that, though we 
can have no more. And it is terrible to fit 
here all day, not able to do anything but 
doubt and wonder what is to come ! He is frill 
unconfcious, — a whole night of uncertainty. 
Aunt M. is there by his fide, calm and felf- 
fuftained, always ftrong in emergency ; and I 
almolt think it is eafier for her there, where 
perhaps fhe can do fomething, than for us 
who can only lit dreading and fearing the 
refult. Ralph was thrown from his horfe 
yeiterday, a*nd taken up fenfelefs ! . . . fcarcely 
know how to write it, and yeiterday morning 

... all 



28 An Unclofeted Skeleton* 

... all fo different, and I was writing that 
idle twaddle to you. The real tragedy has 
come now, outdoing all the talk of fcenic hor- 
rors. Our dinner had gone off fo pleafantly. 
Ralph here, unufually gay and joyous ; but he 
ran away from the dinner-table to join a 
friend, and I don't quite know if they had yet 
been out of town. Ralph had promifed to 
leave fome meffage at Mrs. Le Kain's, and 
there he was in Pearl Street, and had left a 
note at the door, or fome word for Dr. Spurz- 
heim, when his horfe turned fuddenly, and 
from the houfe oppofite, where they were re- 
pairing, there came a beam, falling fuddenly 
with a crafh. The horfe ftarted, whirled, and 
Ralph was thrown to the ground. This is 
how I underftand it. They carried him 
directly into the houfe, where — our only 
caufe for thankfulnefs — Dr. Spurzheim was 
at the very moment engaged in a confuta- 
tion. He gave directions as to how Ralph 

mould 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 29 

mould be carried, and they fent for other 
doctors and for Aunt M. . . . They fay that 
Dr. Spurzheim is a moft wonderful furgeon 
But oh ! what can be done ? For the fkull in- 
deed is fractured, — this is our lateft intel- 
ligence. They would have kept Aunt M. 
away, but fhe will not leave. The only thing 
that fuftains her . . . and fhe has implicit 
confidence in Dr. Spurzheim, who plans fome 
operation in which he is to be affifled by a 
committee of Bofton doctors. This is the 
very lateft report I can fend you. I have 
kept my letter till the laffc moment, and fhall 
carry it myfelf to Earl's, in Hanover Street, 
as John Lewis takes the mail-ftage from there 
to-day at one o'clock, and he had before prom- 
ifed to take my letter for me to New York, 
which it will reach juft in time for the next 
veffel. 

It is very trying to have this the very laft 
that I can fend you. But while there is life 

there 



30 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

there is hope. Dear Ralph ! in thefe waiting 
hours I have recalled all our difcuffion and cri- 
ticifm of him, — how we have bemoaned his 
lack of application and of intereft in ftudy ; yet 
now how glad we fhould be to have him back, 
juft as he was, with his kind-heartednefs and 
genial love of us all ! But I muft ftop, and 
next time hope to fend you a better report. 
Now that we have your new addrefs, we can 
fend you news regularly. But this mult go, 
if only to prepare you for what we have to tell. 

Boston, June 15, 1832. 

Dear Joe, — Mifs Patty wants me to fend 
you an account — "a doctor's account," fhe 
faid — of the ftartling operation lately per- 
formed on your coufin Ralph Wheaton. I am 
glad to do her fo flight a favor, and glad too 
to renew . . . fince the day when we parted 
at the door of the medical fchool. 

As to the operation, I was among the 

favored 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 31 

favored few of our guild invited, and cannot 
do better, perhaps, than flip in here fome 
extracts from my profeffional notes taken on 
the fpot. 

'T was a great occafion. Spurzheim is a 
genius ; the like of him has never been feen 
on this fide the water. None the lefs, be- 
tween ourfelves, fome of his theories are the 
rankeft quackery. But with it ^11 he is fo 
tremendous and overpowering in a fcientific 
way that our little gods here have not only 
gulped down their prejudice, — a pretty big 
pill too, — but actually received him with a 
mild kind of Puritanical hooray. He, how- 
ever, blefs you ! makes nothing of them ; 
they 're evidently a dwarf variety of pundit to 
him, and he walks over them and paws them 
about like a lion among puppy-dogs. You 
may imagine what nuts 't is to us younger fry 
to fee the Rhadamanthufes thus dethroned. 

Like all geniufes, Spurzheim is a bit of a 

madman. 



32 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

madman. I like him rather the better for it. 
There is, too, an Olympian air about the 
creature ; and though none of the profeffion 
here can go the " bump " bufmefs, there 's 
not a man among them dare ftand up and 
tell him fo to his face. But our mutton is 
cooling. 

That operation — Joe, I give you my word, 
the whole performance would have done honor 
to any ftage. 'T was thrilling as a tragedy, — 
which, by the by, it came d — d near becom- 
ing, — and yet had bits of comedy as fine as 
Moliere. Fancy Spurzheim, with his elephan- 
tine bulk, coat and veil off, fleeves rolled up, 
veins Handing out in his probulgent forehead, 
fweat running off his dewlap from nervous 
agitation, — fancy him, I fay, cavorting back 
and forth from one patient to the other, ha- 
ranguing in broken Englifh W., J., F., D., and 
me, who flood before him in a paralyzed row, 
like a fquad of frefhies at a clinic. 

Not 



An Unclofeted Skeleton* 33 

Not . . . but every one knew in his heart 
't was a daring a 61 of empiricifm which fuccefs 
itfelf could not juftify. You know the facts, 
of courfe, from Mifs Patty, about the refugee 
Radzinfki, whom Spurzheim has been for 
fome time treating for cerebral tumor. The 
Pole is a remarkable character ; he was . . . 
nothing known of his hiftory . . . habitually 
talked Latin with Spurzheim ... in his deli- 
rium fputtered various unknown tongues. 

You mult know there had been a confuta- 
tion the day before. W. and J. were called 
in. They agreed with Spurzheim's diagnofis, 
proceeded to localize the tumor, and decided 
upon the operation ; whereupon the reft of us 
were invited. Little fufpecting what was in 
ftore for us that fine fummer morning, we 
wended our way to Mrs. Le Kain's to fee the 
operation upon the Pole alone. 

We found everything ready ; Spurzheim 

fhowing W. his inftrnments in the parlor, the 

3 patient 



34 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

patient ftretched on a bed in the inner room, 
where we made by requeft the ufual examina- 
tion. So much for preliminaries ; now pleafe 
take up my notes for the details ! 

" Examined patient : pulfe 80, hard and 
frequent ; pupils contracted ; fkin alternate 
paling and flufhing ; tongue dry ; extremities 
cold ; muttering delirium. Found no reafon 
to differ with theory of tumor. Dr. Spurz- 
heim briefly gave reafons for localizing tumor 
beneath frontal bone ; called attention inci- 
dentally to extraordinary prominence of fron- 
tal lobe in patient, difguifed by a thick fhock 
of hair growing low over the brow. 

" Dr. J., on requeft, fhaved fcalp. Difcuffion 
over fhape of incifion. Dr. Spurzheim himfelf 
conducted operation : the fcalp neatly cut 
and inflected ; pericranium carefully fcraped 
away, and a trephine of the largeft fize ap- 
plied juft above frontal finus. Directly 
bone was removed, dura mater protruded 

through 



An Unclofeted Skeleton, 35 

through opening, — fhowing evident enlarge- 
ment of the brain, and confirming, as it 
feemed, the theory of tumor. Spurzheim 
pointed triumphantly with his lancet, and 
proceeded with the operation. Scarcely had 
he divided the dura mater when he flopped, 
flared, and flufhed. We crowded about. 
There at lalt, through the fevered membrane, 
the cerebral tiffue itfelf burfl forth, but with its 
normal pinkifh color, and withoict the Jlighteji 
trace of difeafe. 

" While we flood puzzling over the matter, 
Dr. W. called our attention to the great and 
fenfible relief already evinced by patient as 
refult of operation." 

Now, Joe, lay afide the notes, and let me 
interrupt you for a minute ! 

Remark that thus far everything had been 
according to programme, fave the difproving 
the tumor theory, — a difcovery, as you know, 
rather interefting than unufual. At that pre- 

cife 



36 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

cife moment, however, chance ftepped in and 
flung a bomb-fhell into our midffc which in a 
trice altered the whole fituation. 

Our difcuffion was interrupted by a loud 
outcry from the ftreet. The windows were 
open, — we ran to look out. A frantic horfe 
was galloping round the corner, and a crowd 
of men were bringing the mangled body of a 
youth into our houfe. 

The next minute Mrs. Le Kain herfelf 
came burfting into the room, calling loudly 
for Spurzheim to come at once ; that young 
Mr. Wheaton was killed. 

At firft annoyed at the interruption, on 
hearing a name fo familiar, — you know what 
civilities Mrs. Wheaton has heaped upon him, 
— Spurzheim hurried down-flairs, we at his 
heels, and found, fure enough, it was your 
coufin. He was carried up-ftairs directly, and 
•the crowd fhut out. Thereupon, as you may 
believe, the Pole was ftraightway forgotten, 

and 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 37 

and breathlefs attention centred upon poor 
Ralph. 

At the very firft glimpfe of his face down- 
ftairs Spurzheim had whifpered, "Fr-rach- 
ture ! " Examination proved it to be indeed 
a very ferious fracture of the left parietal 
bone. Word was inftantly fent to his mother, 
and preparation made for an operation. 

Now go on with your notes again : — 

" Examined young Wheaton : pulfe normal 
or a little flow ; pupils dilated ; fkin moift ; ex- 
tremities warm ; refpiration ftertorous. Scalp 
much fwollen, and filled with maffes of coagu- 
lated blood evident to the touch ; pieces of 
bone could be plainly felt grating againft each 
other ; edematous ftate of fcalp for confider- 
able diftance about feat of injury ; fcalp pur- 
plifh directly above wound, mowing extenfive 
comminution of cranium. 

"At Spurzheim's requeft I fhaved fcalp. 
Another difcuffion over incifion. ... ' H ' 

fhape 



38 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

fhape on account of comminution . . . allow- 
ing two large flaps for inflection. Dr. J. made 
. . . dura mater badly lacerated ... of bone 
cruihed down into brain. W. drew attention 
to fact that in extracting pieces of bone and 
. . . confiderable portion of brain muft be re- 
moved. All ftartled by fudden exclamation 
from Spurzheim." 

Here let me interrupt again, Joe, to give 
you a little more graphic notion of the 
fituation. 

" Gott ! " cried Spurzheim. 

We all turned to fee the caufe of this explo- 
fion. He was walking up and down, with 
blazing eyes, declaiming with incoherent fer- 
vor, and forgetting his fmall ftore of Englifh 
in his excitement. 

" Sehen lie, meine Herren ! See you ? 
Hein f Vat a gr-rand moment ! Eine Ent~ 
deckling — de whole vor-rld vill hear of it. 
Niemals, never has fcience foch a — a — vat 

you 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 39 

you call Zufammentreffen gefehn ? Come — 
come vith me gefchwind, kvick ! I mow you," 
pointing to the room where the Pole lay ; 
" you fhall fee ! De odder, de beide, ve put 
both togedder, hem ? Take de von to mend 
de odder. Come, I fay ! " 

We followed him in to Radzinfki's bedfide, 
where, pointing eagerly to the unfmifhed ope- 
ration, he went on : — 

" Sehen Jie noch nicht, my deer friends ? 
Here ijl zu viel y dort nicht gejtug ! Dis ees — 
fee ! look for yourfelfs ! " pointing to the pro- 
truding cerebrum. " Gefund, ganz gefund ! 
Warum — vy den fhall ve not take avay vat 
dis von fpare, und gif to de odder, hein ? " 

His meaning was at laft clear, and we flood 
dumfounded. But he, too bufy with the pof- 
fible prenological refults of the operation to 
heed us, ran on in an ecftatic and incoherent 
monologue I fhall defpair of defcribing. Only 
his action I remember, as he kept patting the 

Pole's 



40 An Unclofeted Skeleton* 

Pole's bulbous forehead, crying, " Aufordetit- 
lich ! Aufordentlich ! " and then darted away 
to point out the comparative flatnefs of 
Ralph's. 

I need not tell you how the fuggeflion of 
fuch an operation was received by the Bolton 
fquad. You can imagine the polar chill and 
ftillnefs of that room ! But pff ! — Spurzheim 
— man alive! the Grand Mogul could not 
have been more ferenely unconfcious of them 
and their moods. 

At this juncture arrived the heart-broken 
mother. Defpite all oppofition, fhe would 
come in. It was a hard pull, but you know 
what fluff fhe is of, — real Yankee grit. 
Egad, I was proud of her. 

" He is alive ? " fhe afked, her voice almofl 
firm. 

W. nodded. She went and kneeled down 
befide her only fon and child with never a 
fob or wail or groan ; but " while memory 

holds 



An Unclofeted Skeleton, 4 1 

holds her feat " fhall I never forget the look 
in her eyes. 

" Is there any hope ? " fhe afked prefently 
of Spurzheim. 

Spurzheim behaved magnificently : he 
pulled her ftraight forth from that Hough 
of defpond with one forceful grip. 

" Hope ! My deer lady — ha ! ha ! vy, dere 
is noding but hope ! Fiirchten Sie nicht ! Go 
— go avay now. Bleiben zu Haufe ! Put 
faith in me ; I vill cure him. Aber, go — go 
kvick, deer lady, an* leave us to vork ! " 

His big perfon, his emphatic tone, his air 
of omnipotence, availed more than a thoufand 
words. The reaffured and comforted woman 
walked quietly away without another proteft. 

Directly the door clofed upon her we came 
back to our fubject. Spurzheim formally de- 
manded our opinion, 

" Extremely hazardous," faid J., making his 
head. 

" Unheard 



42 An Unclofeted Skeleton* 

" Unheard of ! " faid W. 

" 'Azardous ! " repeated Spurzheim, nearly 
choking himfelf with the word. " Vas it not 
'azardous znm Beifpiel ven de gret Colombus 
came de fea over to find out dis countree ? 
Unheerd of ! Vas it not audi unheerd of ven 
Fr-rahnklin de t'under-bolt brought from de 
fky down ? " 

But all his fatire and eloquence were una- 
vailing. W. and J. were at bay ; they would 
as foon have countenanced an earthquake : 
yet 't was plain they were itching to fee the 
thing done. 

And they were gratified. Our hoft had the 
courage of his convictions. He did n't trouble 
himfelf about their approval ; he went on and 
did it. Yes, Joe, to make a long ftory fhort, 
he actually performed the operation, — boldly 
fevered the fuperfluous brain from the Pole 
(I won't trouble you with any more notes), 
adjufted it nicely to Ralph's cranium, and 

dreffed 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 43 

dreffed both wounds in the moft workmanlike 
manner, which, I have fmce heard, moved the 
admiration even of W. You know how he 
likes a neat job. 

All this was more than a week ago. So 
far, as I intimated above, everything has gone 
well. The Pole is up, and declares himfelf 
well. Ralph has been taken home to his 
mother, and the chances are all in his favor. 

I need not fay, with regard to the above, 
" Mum 's the word!' I write for your pro- 
feffional eye alone. For obvious reafons, the 
nature of the operation has not been made 
public; nor has either Ralph or his mother 
the leaft idea of what has been done. Verbum 
fap. Let me hear from you. 

Faithfully yours, A "R T 

Aug. 20, 1832. 
Dear Joe, — You will have received before 
this the ftatement that Dr. L. promifed to 

fend 



44 ^^ Unclofeted Skeleton, 

fend you, and therefore know more of R.'s 
accident than we do. All the doclors have 
been ftrangely reticent with regard to the 
matter, and I think now they want to pafs it 
off as nothing unufual ... " A cafe of tre- 
panning," Dr. L. faid lightly, in anfwer to my 
queftions. 

Meanwhile, we are all fo happy to fee Ralph 
really convalefcent that we are willing they 
fhould call it what they pleafe. 

. . . Ralph himfelf . . . and had a ftrange, 
wild look when he firft recovered confciouf- 
nefs, and he does not yet remember anything 
of his fall, or of the other happenings of the 
day ; they fay this often occurs in fuch cafes. 
I have feen him only once, and he feemed juft 
the fame dear boy as ever ... an anxious 
look in his eyes, which, with his pale face and 
head all bound up, made him look . . . but 
he could fay a few words to me, only they 
would not let him talk much. 

Aunt 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 45 

Aunt M. fays fhe is not going to fay a word 
to him about college. She is fo glad to have 
him back, fhe cares for nothing elfe; and fhe is 
impreffed that it will do him harm if he tries 
to ufe his brain. 

Poor Georgiana ! She has been in the 
depths of defpair, and has fpent the days of 
anxiety here, where fhe could learn the lateft 
intelligence ; crying and fobbing half the time, 
and afking all forts of queftions, that I muft 
fay irritated me in the midft of all the uncer- 
tainty. " Would Ralph be ... if he did re- 
cover ? Could he recover without . . . Did I 
know what 'trepanning' was ? Did I ever 
know anybody who had fubmitted to the ope- 
ration ? And would they have to cut off all 
his hair ? " Rachel was quiet through it all- 
She is ready to do anything that is needed, 
but fpeaks little, and feems fo fad and pre- 
occupied that I wonder if fhe has not really 
as deep an intereft in Ralph as the more 

lively 



46 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

lively Georgiana. R. is talking about leaving 
here, becaufe flie thinks Aunt Maria would 
like to give Ralph the largefb room when he 
is well enough to be brought here. She is 

planning to go to the W 's, who are very 

hofpitable, and who have a daughter at her 
fchool. I will keep my letter open till Ralph 
is able to be moved, as we hope he can come 
here before many days . . . 

R. was moved yefherday, and is now com- 
fortable ; is ftill kept lying quietly in his bed. 
I have feen him only once. I think he looked 
round inquiringly for Rachel. Aunt Maria 
thought he afked for Georgiana, and told him 
the doctors had faid he muft fee only one per- 
fon at a time, and Georgiana is to fee him in a 
day or two. 

Have I told you how it has feemed to me 
like a Hermione and Helena affair all along ? 
Georgiana has followed after Ralph, and 

Ralph 



An Unci of e ted Skeletoii. 47 

Ralph has been purfuing Rachel ; and now 
it appears as if Rachel were leaving him 
behind. But perhaps this is all in my im- 
agination. 

Laft night Reporter Pickering was here to 
tea. He and Aunt M. had a furious dif- 
cuffion over Webfter's fpeech on Clay's bill 
— don't afk, Bill for what? When we rofe 
from the table, nothing would ferve but he 
muft fee Ralph. Accordingly, they went up- 
ftairs, and found R. amufing himfelf making 
a potpourri of Aunt M.'s noftrums ; he had 
filled his gruel-bowl with a mixture of " Balm 
of Quito," "Anderfon's Elixir," "Antifeptic 
Dentifrice," and " Whitwell's Opodeldoc." 
Aunt M. was vexed, but fhe could not fcold 
him ; while Oclavius P. brought the lightning 
upon his head by laughing till the tears filled 
his eyes. 

. . . Another fad piece of news. . . . Pref- 
ently you will dread to open my letters. Only 

I 



48 An Unclofeted Skeleton* 

I muft haften to fay that this is not connected 
with our houfehold. Our dear Ralph is im- 
proving flowly, and fits up a little every day. 

. . . but you will have feen it in the papers, 
the account of the death of Dr. Spurzheim. 
It has indeed been a fubje6l of forrovv and ex- 
citement in the whole community. Dr. James 
Jackfon attended him, and other doctors were 
called in confultation, — although at firft he 
confidered himfelf but flightly indifpofed, and 
believed that nature would reftore him. He 
was ill but ten days, and died laft Saturday 
night. 

The whole town is full of forrow . . . more 
than others, for our dear Ralph's fake, and 
really believe . . . owe it all to this great 
man. Aunt Maria is very much moved, and 
filled with difcouragement with regard to 
Ralph's recovery, now that fhe can no lon- 
ger have the advice of the wife friend and 
phyfician. 

... I 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 49 

... I mult fend off this letter. Ralph ftill 
improves. Our friend the Pole, Radzinfki, 
has difappeared. He left his boarding-houfe 
fome days ago. It was fuppofed he was with 
fome friends, but it appears they have feen 
nothing of him. A failing-veffel left for South 
Africa laft week, and there is fome reafon to 
believe that he went on board at the laft mo- 
ment, and left with it. 

Boston, Jan. 10, 1833. 
. . . Happy news for you at laft, my dear 
Joe. Ralph is really quite well again, and — 
now hold your breath ! — actually gone back to 
Cambridge to make up his conditions. Aunt 
M. took alarm at the very firft fuggeftion, and 
the change in the relative pofition of the parties 
is indeed both amazing and amufing, — Aunt 
M. arguing to Ralph that college advance- 
ment is of very little importance, and that he 
will be of as much ufe in the world without 
4 learning 



50 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

learning and in fome lefs ambitious calling, 
and that . . . with plenty of money for a 
quiet, domeftic life, for which he is fo admira- 
bly fitted (of courfe with Georgia). 

. . . fomething uncanny and myfterious, 
this change in Ralph ; fo fudden too. I was 
fitting in his room one day, where he lay 
propped up on a fofa, when he broke out : 
" Do you know, Patty, all that hard work I 
put in at the Latin School is bearing fruit at 
laft." 

" What do you mean ? " 

"Why, all thofe worft {ticking-places in the 
Latin grammar, where I ufed to get mired fo 
. . . clear and fimple as daylight now." 

Thereupon he rattled off lifts of prepofitions, 
exceptions, irregular verbs, fyntactical rules, 
till I was fairly giddy ; in fine . . . and his 
brain, once fo fluggifh, became abnormally 
active. . . . Aunt M. inftantly took alarm, 
and had round the doctor, who, after an ex- 
amination 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 5 1 

amination, faid, "Let him go back to Cam- 
bridge." . . . 

Mindful of your old tafte for puzzles, I fend 
you this riddle, which I clipped from yefter- 
day's " Advertifer and Patriot : " — 

" Sir Hilary charged at Agincourt, 

Sooth 't was an awful day ; 
And though in that old age of fport 
The rufflers of the camp and court 

Had little time to pray, 
'T is faid Sir Hilary uttered there 
Two fyllables by way of prayer : 
The firft to call the brave and proud, 

Who fee to-morrow's fun ; 
The next with its cold, quiet fhroud 
To thofe 

. . . the .... be done. 



And both together to all . . . eyes 
Who weep . . . nobly dies." 

I fhall expect the anfwer in your next. 
What do you think Aunt M. bought with 

the 



52 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

the money you fent to get me a birthday gift ? 
. . . and a bottle of bear's greafe . . . Such a 
tender and melting remembrance ! 

Of courfe everybody muft have bear's 
greafe ; but as me handed me out that firft, 
without a word of her other prefent, I laughed 
outright, to her great bewilderment. 

Ralph is at laft fairly eftablifhed at Cam- 
bridge again. Aunt M. was wofully anxious 
at firft . . . tried in vain to keep him back 
. . . and was in the loweft pit of defpair. As, 
however, he feems to thrive apace, fhe is 
now fupremely content. It feems almoft too 
great a bleffmg that Ralph . . . and turn 
out a fcholar. So far he has pufhed ahead 
like the giant with the feven-league boots 
. . . made up his conditions . . . now leads 
his clafs. 

Aunt M. now lays all his former ftupidity 
to his old tutor, G., and is correfpondingly im- 
preffed with the wonders of phrenology, — 

Dr. 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 53 

Dr. Spurzheim having predicted fomething of 
this fort for Ralph . . . 

Found at Allen and Ticknor's a delightful 
book, " Vivian Grey." Get it at once, if you 
have n't read it. . . . With this aftonilhing 
development in Ralph I am forever regretting 
I did not read Dr. L.'s letter to you . . . and 
Jhould, fave that he mumbled out fomething 
to the effect that I mould n't underftand the 
doctor lingo. 

Rachel has come back to us, as Ralph in- 
filled upon it when he left for Cambridge. . . . 
Aunt plainly troubled . . . and declares Ralph 
is infatuated with Rachel ; and indeed, he 
does feem more than ever in love with her. 
He comes home for Saturdays and Sundays, 
and is always confulting her about his ftudies. 
He has developed the greatefb fondnefs for 
languages, and has raked up fomebody to 
teach him Hebrew, though he gets on fo faft 
he hardly needs a teacher, and I do believe 

Rachel 



54 An Undo feted Skeleton. 

Rachel is ftudying it with him. Anyhow, all 
their interefts are the fame nowadays. 

This is a fad blow to Aunt Maria. She is 
taking fuch delight in his advancement fhe 
forgets all her talk about "quiet domeftic life" 
for him, and has all forts of ambitious views 
for his future. Georgiana is . . . and devoted. 
During his illnefs fhe ufed to bring him . . . 
and delicacies made by herfelf. Georgiana 
talks fuggeftively about the houfe fhe fhall 
have when fhe is married. She has picked 
out one of thofe on Summer Street, with the 
horfe-chefbnuts in front, — not far from Otis 
Place. No wonder fhe thinks it may prove a 
bribe. It furely is one for Aunt Maria, who 
fancies Ralph quietly fettled ... for the reft 
of his life, no . . . but here is " the inevita- 
ble confequence." 

May io, 1833. 

. . . and afraid my winter s letters bored 
you, with nothing to tell but the fame old 

thing 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 55 

thing over and over, — Ralph improving, Aunt 
M.'s qualms, etc. Yefterday I met the B.'s. 
They told me how lately they had feen you, 
and it was like a frefh breeze ftraight from 
... to hear about you in that way. They 
report to me what you told them of my let- 
ters, which quite fets me up, and infpires me to 
ffcart another at once, the rather that I have 
not told you of the excitement we have all 
been having over Fanny Kemble. She was 
here five weeks, and the whole town has been 
in commotion. She returns fome of the fweet 
things fhowered upon her : " Bolton is more 
like an Englifh city," etc., than any lhe has 
yet feen ! " Delightful to act to audiences fo 
* pleafantly pleafed ! ' " Such a rufh as there 
was at the box-office every day, a regular riot 
for the . . . But oh, the acting ! I faw her as 
Bianca in " Fazio," as Lady Teazle, and in the 
" Hunchback " twice. Never fhall I forget her 
u I hate you, Helen ! " I long to have to fay 

it 



56 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

it to fomebody, — juft in her tone. We went 
up one day to the H.'s, in Tremont Place, 
for — what do you think ? To fee the divine 
Fanny, from their windows, ride off on horfe- 
back from the Tremont Houfe door ! But 
prefently we grew bold, and preffed up to the 
door itfelf, and waited in the crowd to fee her 
come out and mount her horfe. She embraced 
his neck and kiffed him ! Georgiana was with 
us. She had put her hand through the rail- 
ings, and had picked fome mignonette grow- 
ing infide the little garden-plot fhut off there ; 
and when Mifs Kemble had mounted, fhe ven- 
tured to lift up her little bunch of flowers, 
which was received by the " divine " Fanny, 
Julia, Bianca, in one, with the fweeteft and 
moft cordial of fmiles. Georgiana did make a 
very pretty little picture by the fide of the 
curveting horfe, with her own brown curls 
blown about by the wind ; and all the fchool- 
girls and the reft of us quite envied her. It 

was 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 57 

was exa6lly like her ; fhe is very impulfive 
about giving things, — other people's as well 
as her own . . . 

This letter has been lying by, and I take it 
up to fend you a great bit of news. Ralph is 
to graduate with honors ! At the laft exhibi- 
tion he made the moft brilliant appearance of 
all the graduating clafs ! He has advanced fo 
fafb that it aftonifhes everybody, and will grad- 
uate this year, after all. Can you imagine 
Aunt M.'s delight at the reception in Ralph's 
room after the exhibition ? . . . Befides the 
foreigners . . . there, with whom Ralph 
talked glibly in French and German . . . 
from Oxford, who addreffed him in Latin, 
and Ralph fired back an anfwer without a 
moment's hefitation. . . . And no wonder, 
her higheft ambition is realized. Ralph has 
turned out a genius, and yet remains ftill the 
fame dear good fellow through it all. But 
what will intereft you more is that he has 

determined 



58 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

determined to ftudy medicine, and means to 
go at it directly after his graduation. 

Luckily I reftrained myfelf as I was about to 
feal this letter laft night, for I can now wind 
up with a coup (do you call it ?) which will ftir 
your blood, — Ralph is engaged to Rachel ! 

I am more happy about it than ... for I 
have been hoping . . . but Aunt M. was fo 
oppofed . . . 

Rachel has been angelic through it all ; . . . 
evidently faw Aunt M.'s difapproval, and tried 
to keep herfelf out of v the way ; and I really 
thought fhe was going to fucceed, and Ralph 
would gradually " get off the notion," as Aunt 
M. faid, efpecially as Georgiana has haunted 
the houfe, and kept herfelf in the way with 
the fame perfiftency that Rachel mowed in 
her retreat, but has been, neverthelefs, very 
charming, I muft fay. 

But laft night Ralph announced it all to his 

mother, 



An Undo feted Skeleton. 59 

mother, and told her that Rachel was only 
waiting her confent, and then he went on to 
tell how the whole happinefs of his life de- 
pended upon it ; and when Aunt M. fobbed 
out fomething about the fplendid profpects 
before him, he declared that he never mould 
have had any profpects if it had not been for 
Rachel, and fhe was his guiding-ftar, and all 
that. So Aunt M. confented he mould bring 
Rachel round that very evening ; and now 
that 't is a foregone conclufion, I know 't will 
end in her thinking fhe planned it. . . . 

Everything with a perfect rufh. It looks 
now as if they would be married this very 
autumn ; and Ralph talks about going out 
to you, and carrying on his fludies abroad. 
Whether in his prefent ecftafy he will find 
time to fend you a letter befpeaking your 
congratulations, I dare not promife, although 
he faid he was going to write you all 
about it. 

. • 1833- 



60 An Unclofeted Skeleton, 

• • • 1833- 
Dear Joe, — I hope you have my letter 
telling that the wedding-day is actually fixed, 
and that Rachel and Ralph will leave directly 
for Europe by a veffel from Bofton, — the 
" Siren," I believe ; a (low thing, but what will 
they mind ? 

We have at laft your letter telling of your 
fudden departure, fo we conclude you have 
miffed all ours, with the account of Ralph's 
famous fuccefs in his very firft term at the 
medical fchool, and his plan of going abroad 
for ftudy . . . the remarkable fenfation over his 
aftonifhing article on certain Hebrew letters, 
and how he is to be fent out to look up fome 
philological matters, all expenfes paid, he to 
remain abroad two years ! As of courfe he 
muft be married nrft . . . and the wedding 
will take place at once. Forgive my telling it 
all over again, but there may be a chance of 

this 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 6 1 

this letter's hitting you fomewhere, if it goes 
by the " Pacific," which leaves New York a few 
days before the " Siren," and Ralph is eager to 
fee you as foon as poffible, to gain your ad- 
vice about further travels. Poor Aunt M. 
is well-nigh daft ; fhe flutters about between 
delight and forrow . . . f o proud of all Ralph's 
great fuccefs ... at the fame time terrified. 
Whether fhe is overwhelmed by this fudden 
and unexpected realization of her wild eft am- 
bitions for Ralph, or whether fome ftrange 
morbid feeling is gaining poffeffion of her . . . 
Only fhe grows more and more fond of Ra- 
chel, who keeps the fweet, quiet tenor of her 
way through it all, — fo calm, and yet fo de- 
voted to Aunt M., who of courfe will mifs 
Ralph terribly . . . feldom been abfent from 
her. Indeed, Rachel has urged Aunt M. to 
go with them, — which fhows what a faint fhe 
is ; but Aunt M. will not. . . . 

. . . On 



62 An Unclofeted Skeletoit. 

... On the eve of the great event . . . 
keep my letter open for the laft happy details 
... to be married in King's Chapel, — did I 
fay that before ? — and go up to Groton for a 
few quiet days before the " Siren " leaves ; and 
meanwhile I will hurry this letter off for the 
" Pacific," that it may be fure to reach you a 
little while before their arrival. I am fo glad 
that we have at laft your correct and — appar- 
ently? — permanent addrefs. 

The joyous crifis . . . fuch a lovely day for 
the wedding ... to be at twelve o'clock — I 
am perfectly confident I have told you all this 
full half a dozen times — a reception here 
afterwards . . . Juft been down for a laft look 
at the rooms : parlor a bower of flowers fent 

in by the S s from their Brookline green- 

houfe. Aunt M. adjufting herfelf to her beft 
fatin, and I, in my new filk you fent, am fairly 
rigid with grandeur. 

Sit. 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 63 

Sit down to begin a letter to you, mainly to 
tranquillize my nerves : will finifh and fend it 
off when it is all over and they are gone. 

"All over?" — 'tis all over now. Merci- 
ful Father, but how ? Oh, my darling brother, 
how can I write it ! All the brightnefs turned 
to blacknefs in a minute — It is too terrible ; 
our only hope now is in you . . . But I muft 
ftop and get control of myfelf ; I cannot write 
coherently. 

Aunt M. and I went in the fame carriage 
with Ralph to King's Chapel, and I never faw 
him more lovely, faying fuch fweet things to 
his mother, — how his marriage would never 
change his relations to her, expreffing more 
than ever he has known how to exprefs 
before ! 

. . . and I wifh I might dwell forever upon 
this one, but laft, happy moment with Ralph, 

for 



64 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

for how can I prepare you for the reft, or how 
can I defcribe it ! . . . anybody would think 
. . . yet juft now when I left him to try to 
finifh this letter, he was talking fo calmly, 
making his plans with fo much care, that I 
almoft feel as if the horrors paffed muft be 
only a nightmare ! . . . 

We arrived at the church, where I left Ralph 
and Aunt M. in the veftibule, and walked up 
the aifle on the arm of an ufher, — juft a few 
friends there, happily for us, — and waited till 
they mould come in. Ralph with his coufm 

Th ; Rachel with her father, but no 

bridefmaids, happily ! Mr. G., who was to 
perform the ceremony, came forward, we were 
all Handing near them, Rachel exquifitely 
lovely and pale, — when fuddenly I faw Ralph 
look up, as if dazed at the fcene before him ; 
then he faid in a low but clear voice to Mr. G., 
" I cannot go on. Do not go on ! " Then to 
Rachel, " It cannot be ! " 

It 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 65 

It is like writing out a terrible dream, or 
trying to. How can I tell of the tremor, the 
confufion that followed ? Nor do I know how 
we all came back here, fome few friends with 
us, — Dr. L., the J.'s ; but I heard Ralph fay 
diftinctly to Rachel, " It cannot be, Ra- 
chel ! , I have been married before ! " . . . 
that Ralph ftill ftubbornly flicks to his pur- 
pofe of going abroad, and will not even fee 
Rachel again. They have taken her back 
to Groton. He is ftrangely quiet, but con- 
ftantly repeats the fame terrible words : " I 
cannot marry Rachel ; I have been married 
before ! " Aunt M. and I confider this . . . ; 
but how can he — where can he have been 
married before? He was away, to be fure, 
without Aunt M. that fpring in Cuba. But 
he came home as light-hearted, as boyifh, 
and . . . He refufes to explain, and be- 
comes violent if queftioned. Once he mut- 
tered fomething to the effect that . . . and 
5 " thought 



66 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

" thought fhe was dead." What Jlie he 
meant I . . . 

But he refufes to fee Rachel, and her 
friends have taken her away . . . proftrated 
with the fhock . . . threatened with brain- 
fever. He ftarts . . . Dr. L. goes with him. 
Aunt M. is overwhelmed . . . and believes 
this is the refult of over-ftudy, for which 
JJie is refponfible . . . the greater! trial of her 
life . . . but has to bear up. 

Strange to fay, my mind conftantly reverts 
to R.'s accident. What was the nature of the 
operation Spurzheim performed on R. . . . 
and in this connection I think too of Ludovic 
Radzinfki. What has become of him ? He 
has never appeared again. Is he living, or 
dead ? 

Paris, 2d Sept., 1833. 

Dear Patty, — Yes, Ralph is here ; turned 
up yefterday all right. After all your hyfterics, 
expected to find him a fit fubject for a ftrait- 

jacket. 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 67 

jacket. Nothing of the fort ! Brain affected, 

— pooh ! He 's as calm as a clock, pulfe as 
fteady and ftrong as my own ; for the reft, he 
eats like a coal-heaver, and fleeps like a log. 

So much for your melodrama at King's 
Chapel. The truth is, you Boftoners live in 
fuch a cramped little rut that when anything 
the leaft unufual happens you go into fren- 
zies. What do I think of it ? Nothing at 
all. Found he could n't ftand his tirefome 
little fchool-marm, — Rachel do you call her ? 

— and when it came to tying up for life, he 
broke loofe and gave her the flip ; and I don't 
much blame him. Or perhaps he had been 
married before. Suppofe he had : where 's 
the occafion for all the ecftatics ? 

Meantime, tell Aunt M. to difmifs her frets. 
I '11 take him under my wing and make a man 
of him ; begin by making fome of the ftale 
faintlinefs out of him, and teaching him a 
little wholefome wickednefs. 

That 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 



That 's all the trouble ; he needs inoculat- 
ing with the varioloid of fin and naughtinefs. 
Why, he wanted to go to church this morn- 
ing, — think he called it " meeting ; " and I 
fufpect him of faying his prayers at night. 

Oh, yes ! he 's a nice boy enough ; not bad- 
looking, but fhockingly raw, — no tone, no 
manner, no civilization. But deuce take him! 
where did he pick up his French ? He leaves 
me out of fight ; rattles it off like a magpie. 
His accent, of courfe, is vile, — founds as if it 
might have been picked up from a Dutch bar- 
ber. Withal he has the medical bee in his 
bonnet. Make a doctor? Not a doubt of 
him ; it is only by main ftrength I can keep 
him out of the hofpitals. 

Yes, Dr. L. fent me an account of the ope- 
ration. Nothing fo very wonderful, — things 
more ftrange every day at the clinics here. 
Of courfe your Yankee doctors were aftonifhed. 
Old " Spurz" was enough to amaze them. A 

ftork 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 69 

ftork defcending amongft the tadpoles of the 
Frog- Pond would have proved a leffer marvel 
than a German fpecialift amongft your Bofton 
quidnuncs. 

Ah, Patty, dear, come over here, girl, and 
look back on your fpeck of a peninfula, and 
get a comparative notion of what and where 
you are in the world. 

" Coming home ? " Not I ! What fhould 
I come home for, fave to fee you ? I mould 
ftifle, to begin with ; and befides, fo far as I 
can make out, all my old fet is broken up, — 
married, dead, or gone to the devil. No, no, 
no ! You 'd better come over here, — far 
and away. 

But to come back to the boy, — tell Aunt 
M. to reft her foul in peace. He fhall do no 
work ; I will keep him loafing. I am an ex- 
perienced loafer myfelf ; and 't is an art, I can 
affure her. It takes patience, courage, philo- 
fophy, — nay, wit too, — to be a fuccefsful 

loafer, 



yo An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

loafer, — one, that is, who fhall not be a whiner, 
a valetudinarian, a gamefter, or a fot. 
And fo, dear Sis, good-by to you. T 

Hanover, Oct. 9, 1833. 
Dear Patty, — Yes, Hanover ! You may 
well rub your eyes ; I 've been rubbing mine 
ever fince I got here. None the lefs here I 
am, dragged away from home hundreds of 
miles, at the heels of this reftlefs cub of a 
coufin. Why did we come ? Becaufe the 
young rafcal would be ftudying and diffecting, 
inftead of amufmg himfelf. Talk of the de- 
lights of Paris ! why, they were drugs in the 
market ; the moft blafe old gar^on of fifty 
could n't have been more bored and indiffer- 
ent. Nothing would do but Germany. So 
here we are : anything for peace. I 'm the 
man with the dog. I hold the leafh, but the 
dog drags me where he lifts. A pretty pace, 
too, we go at ! I 'm not fo flight as I was. I 

don't 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 7 1 

don't want to fhock you, Patty, dear, but my 
waift meafures — hang fractions ! let us fay a 
round forty ; and I fometimes puff a bit going 
up-ftairs, — all of which means that I like to 
go my own gait. 

You 'd think this city was the young man's 
native heath. Egad, and he fpeaks the jargon 
even better than he did French, gabbles it 
off in a way that chokes and confounds me. 
Places too, he knows them every one, — 
ftreets, fquares, buildings, markets ; greets 
them with an air of recognition, each and all, 
as " loved fpots that his infancy knew." . . . 
But latterly I 've had a little peace. He has 
found a companion, — a young Englilhman, 
grandfon to a lord, and fo, of courfe, eminent- 
ly refpe6lable. But the Britifher has other 
equipments, fuch as fome fenfe, a dafh of 
fpirit, and a little knowledge of the world; 
and fo I let R. loofe with him, while I, I take 
my eafe in my inn, — what eafe I may, with 

their 



72 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

their vile Teuton cooking and their feather- 
beds to fleep betwixt. . . . 

. . . Buddington — that 's the Englifhman 
— improves on acquaintance. He and R. are 
getting as thick as thieves. R. calls him 
"Bud " already, and he counters with "Rafe." 
Bud has a fiendifh vigor, — I dread his ap- 
proach, except when tamed by fatigue. He 
drags R. about from dawn to dark, fight-fee- 
ing. They go to the galleries, cathedrals, 
libraries, arfenals, and all that nonsenfe. I 
join them in the evening at the concert-gar- 
den or the theatre. It works well. The 
Englifhman is a treafure. I appreciate and 
efteem him ; he 's worth at leaft feveral times 
his weight in any known metal. . . . 

What think you now is on the tapis ? No 
lefs than a trip to India. I can fancy the big 
eyes you and Aunt M. will make at the an- 
nouncement. Not for me, grace a Dieit ! 
I 'm counted out. 

Tis 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 73 

'T is the Englifhman again. " See India 
and die," is John Bull's motto, you know. 
Well, Ralph took the fever from him, and 't is 
a good thing. Now pray do not go into 
fpafms, you two foolifh women ! Nothing 
better could happen to Ralph, I fay. In the 
firft place, he is well, vigorous, and alert, and 
able to look out for himfelf. If he were not, 
he is to have the very belt, travelling compan- 
ion that could be imagined. Bud is fhrewd, 
felf-reliant, a good fellow, and quite devoted 
to Ralph. Moreover, he travels with a valet, 
and has letters of introduction to all the gov- 
ernment officials. So " go along and god- 
fpeed " to them, I fay. . . . 

. . . draws near ; they will fet out in a 
week. I go with them as far as Paris. 

Tell Aunt M. 't is quite out of the queflion 
for me to go. 'T would be the fure death of 
me. I have loft five and twenty pounds al- 
ready fince I left home. Neverthelefs, com- 
fort 



74 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

fort her with the affurance that I (hall fee R. 
ftocked with flannels, brandy, and all necef- 
fary grandmotherly cautions about the cli- 
mate, againfb her firft letter, which fhe may 
direct to Calcutta pofte rejtante. R. will fend 
the addrefs in due time. 

Again I fay, Difmifs all fears and anxieties, 
and believe me, Your broth 

Joe. 

Paris. 

Dear Patty, — The enclofed will fpeak for 
itfelf. 'T is from Buddington. He is Britifh 
to the heels, and would not yield to panic 
without caufe. The King's Chapel bufinefs 
rifes before my eyes in a new light. 

With regard to this affair, I can only fay, 
Wait ! Withhold judgment until you hear 
from me. I ftart for India at once, — am 
hurrying on my packing at this very moment, 
and in a few hours lhall be off. 

Poor 



An Unclofe ted Skeleton. 75 

Poor Aunt M. ! Make light of it to her. I 
am confcience-ftricken that I ever let him out 
of my fight. Still — ftill — ftill, this may all 
prove a falfe alarm ; they are but boys after 
all, — there mult be fome explanation. Don't 
borrow needlefs trouble. Again I fay, Wait ! 
You may depend on me to do everything that 
can be done. Here is Buddington's letter. 
Will write the moment I arrive. 

Affectionately, T 

Dhacca, Bengal, Jan 4, 1834. 

Joseph Clyde, Esq. : — 

Dear Sir, — Your prefence here at the 
earlieft poffible moment is required. A moft 
diftreffing thing has happened. I cannot flop 
to give details, but write poft-hafte to catch 
the mail about to clofe. Everything con- 
nected with the affair is involved in myftery. 
I can only fay now that an appalling tragedy 

has 



76 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

has been committed, and that your coufm is 
implicated. I am of courfe firmly convinced 
of his innocence, but muft confefs his own be- 
havior is molt extraordinary and inexplicable. 
I am mocked to add he is in cuftody. Make 
hafte, dear fir, and lofe not a moment in com- 
ing to his aid. Meantime, I need not affure 
you I will do everything in my power to 
fuftain and defend him. Believe me, with 
much refpect, 

Your obedient, humble fervant, 

St. George Buddington. 

Calais. 
P. S. Dear Patty, — Have kept this open 
for a laft word. Am already, as you fee, en 
route. Have written ahead that all legal pro- 
ceedings be fufpended until I arrive, that I 
fhall be able fully to vindicate the boy. One 
thing you muft do for me, — get an affidavit 
from Doctors J., W., and the reft, of the 

exact 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 77 

exact nature of the operation performed by 
Spurzheim upon R., as alfo another affidavit 
from one or more eye-witneffes of the King's 
Chapel affair, and forward to me at Dhacca, 
without delay. 

Yours affectionately, T 



Dhacca, Bengal, July 10, 1834. 

Dear Patty, — Arrived here yefterday. 
Lofe not a minute in affuring you of Ralph's 
health and innocence. Now, having faid fo 
much, I muft beg you to have patience. . . . 
A commiffion has already been fent to Bofton 
to take teftimony. ... I will not difguife from 
you that this is an ugly bufinefs. God only 
knows what will be the iffue of it . . . The 
ftory is too long and complicated for me even 
to attempt to tell it here. Neither can I fpare 
the time. Every minute now muft be given 
to Ralph. The belt I can do is to inclofe a 

fragment 



j 8 An Unclofe ted Skeleton. 

fragment of Buddington's diary, which he has 
allowed me to copy, giving a brief account of 
all that is thus far known of the matter. 

B. deferves our warmeft thanks. He has 
acted like a man ; not only that, but a ftead- 
faft, loyal friend, and that too in the face of 
the blackeft array of circumftances . . . what- 
ever may come. 

Here is the diary : you will fee from it what 
a tafk is before me to eftablifh R.'s innocence. 
No time for another word. Will write again 
foon. 

Affectionately, 

EXTRACTS FROM THE INDIAN DIARY OF 
ST. GEORGE BUDDINGTON. 

Dec. 5th. Set out with Wheaton from 
Calcutta for a trip through Northern India. 
Hired a large budgerow and two pulwars; 
fhipped our faddle-horfes, traps, and natives 

. . . Thick 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 79 

. . . Thick fogs every morning, broiling heat 
at noonday . . . piclurefque but horribly fil- 
thy villages on banks. . . . Paffed Company's 
military fchool at Allipore . . . Government's 
falt-works . . . murdered body of a native on 
river-bank. . . . Entered Soondurbunds ; . . . 
Mangoes, peepuls, palmettoes, cocoa-nuts, and 
date-trees line the banks . . . myriads of fire- 
flies. . . . 

1 oth. Not a fliot all day at anything . . . 
river full of porpoifes . . . dandies gooning the 
budgerow waded up to their knees in black 
mud ... air darkened by flocks of parrots. 

15th. Lugaod at eight o'clock for hunt in- 
land. Traverfed a neighboring jheel : found 
multitudes of ibis, manichors, paddy-birds ; 
not one within range. R. difcovered foot- 
print of tiger, and gave the alarm. We beat 
a hafty retreat. 

17th. . . . and paffed mug-boats from 
Chittagong . . . river bounded by villainous 

marines, 



So An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

marfhes, harboring flocks of herons, bitterns, 
ducks, etc. R. killed a fine brace . . . 

20th. Arrived at Dhacca : this city one of 
the largefb in India, on the Boorigunga, one 
hundred and fifty-five miles northeaft from 
Calcutta. Much to be feen. Difembarked 
for a ftay of feveral weeks. . . . Found very 
comfortable quarters near the Refidency in 
houfe of a ftaff-officer, kindly lent to us by 
owner, juffc about fetting out on a furveying 
tour on the Upper Ganges. 

21ft. Very comfortably fettled; our kid- 
mutgar feeds us on the fat of the land, from a 
capital market clofe by in the chowk. . . . 
Report ourfelves at Refidency ; very kindly 
received. 

22d. R. amazes me by talking Bengalee 
as glib as a native ; affects to be as amazed 
as myfelf, fvvears he never ftudied it ; but I am 
getting ufed to his waggery. 

23d. We are overrun with company ; of- 
ficers 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 



ficers of the — th Royal Artillery, quartered 
here, dined with us to-day. R. delights 
everybody ; they flare to fee an American 
with fuch accomplifhments. . . . Here is 
where the famous India muflins are made. 
Went to fee the pits dug in ground, where 
the natives Hand while weaving . . . 

24th. Vifited the elephant-fheds : hun- 
dreds of the young animals brought here to 
be tamed and trained. A thought occurred 
to me : fuggefted to R. that we hire a couple, 
and go tiger-hunting in the jungle. He caught 
eagerly at the notion, and has given me no 
peace fince in the matter. 

25th. Bought five oranges, four for a pice 
. . . went to wait upon the nabob of Dhacca, — 
a mere boy, illiterate as a clown, they fay, 
and well-nigh as poor . . . decided at laft 
on our tiger-hunt. Went again to elephant- 
pens ; there fell in with a trader from Lahore, 
a Seik elephant-dealer . . . 

6 26th. 



82 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

26th. The Seik came to our houfe to 
dicker about elephants for our hunt, — a tall, 
wiry, powerful figure, fierce eye, and infolent 
manner ; at his heels a fullen, dogged-looking 
retainer with the air of a Thug, — a precious 
pair ! R. ralhly pulled out a fat-looking purfe ; 
caught the Seik eying it greedily. Took R. 
to talk afterwards for his imprudence ; he only 
laughed. 

28th. . . . Hunt fixed at laft for Thurfday 
week ; officers of the — th to join us. . . . 
The Seik with his Thug comes every day to 
chaffer ; by turns impudent and cringing ; ex- 
tortionate in his demands. R., with Yankee 
thrift, declines to be fwindled. 

30th. Savage row with the Seik. Came 
as ufual, his minion at his heels. R., tired of 
his infolence, bade him begone. The Seik 
became furious, and half drew a knife. I 
oftentatioufly picked up a piftol from the 
table; he faw it, and checked himfelf. . . . 

r., 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 83 

R., in a towering rage, thruft them forth ; a 
loud altercation followed in the ftreet ; a 
crowd gathered from the neighboring chowk. 
I dragged R. in, and fhut the door. 

January 2d. Startling news of the murder 
of the Seik ; his body found horribly mangled 
. . . vifit from the Jemadar . . . Abfurd no- 
tion, R. fufpected of the crime on account of 
the quarrel the other day. The rumor fpread 
like wild-fire amongft ' the natives. Street 
thronged by excited Bengalefe, befieging our 
door and demanding vengeance ; detachment 
of the — th fmuggled into the houfe for our 
protection ; meafures taken by Government 
to prevent a riot ; the mob with difficulty 
difperfed. 

3d. R. behaves in a very ftrange way ; 
mows neither furprife, horror, nor indignation 
at the charge ; is quiet, calm, and pre-occu- 
pied ; will fay nothing, takes no intereft in 
meafures for his defenfe. 

4th. 



84 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

4th. Excitement unabated ... A moft 
mocking development ; R. publicly confeffes 
that he committed the murder ; his friends 
and all the Englifh here horrified ; 't is im- 
poffible and abfurd ; the fhock mult have 
affe6led his reafon. Yet he feems quite col- 
lected. I argue and plead with him, beg for 
an explanation ; he refufes to go into the 
matter, but perfifts in declaring himfelf 
guilty. Nothing can be done in the face 
of this avowal. Wrote at once to his coufin 
at Paris. 

5th. . . . R. taken into cuftody ; led away 
to the Kutwalee for examination, — an im- 
menfe crowd at his heels. Employed a noted 
Vakeel to defend him, and defpatched a mef- 
fenger for the moft eminent Englifh counfel 
to be had in Calcutta. Meantime, we fit in 
the dark. R. will fay nothing, and the only 
facts thus far afcertained with regard to the 
tragedy are thefe : — 

Thurfday, 



An Unclofeted Skeleton, 85 

Thurfday, p. m., after the quarrel at our 
houfe . . . and the Seik went home, talking 
to the rabble with great violence . . . Was 
next feen alive and well in the chowk, towards 
evening, bartering . . . Accompanied later 
to his bungalow by a well-known merchant 
of Dhacca, who parted with him on the 
threfhold as the Thug opened the door. 
Nothing more feen or known until he was 
found . . . and evidences of a fierce ftruggle 
all about the room and the body. 



Dhacca, . . . 1834. 

Dear Patty, — This is to be but a hurried 
line for Aunt M.'s comfort ; have been work- 
ing night and day fince I arrived. You un- 
derftand that the trial was put off until I 
came, on the underftanding that I could give 
evidence which would free the accufed. 

Notwithftanding Ralph's confeffion, his 

counfel 



86 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

counfel have of courfe put in a technical 
plea of " not guilty," on which we fhall go to 
trial. The cafe againft him is purely inferen- 
tial, and the evidence contemptible, were it 
not for his obftinately infifting that he com- 
mitted the crime. I am waiting anxioufly 
now for the return of the commiffion from 
Bolton to meet that confeffion. 

Meantime, there is one obvious courfe to be 
taken ; to wit, the difcovery of the real mur- 
derer. This, confidering the Hindoo hatred of 
the Englifh, and their natural zeal in fhielding 
each other, is an almoft hopelefs talk. How- 
ever, I have left no ftone unturned, and have 
reafon to believe that I am on the track of the 
right man. 

Ralph, of courfe, is ftill in cuftody, but 
everything poffible has been done for his 
comfort ; he is in a moody, melancholy ftate, 
as though he were a real culprit. I have had 
the moft diftinguifhed experts here to vifit him, 

but 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 8y 

but they find nothing whatever the matter 
with his mind. 

Yours juft come to hand, by the fame mail 
with the commiffion, etc. ; never was fo glad 
to fee your handwriting. I am now ready for 
the trial, and confident of an acquittal ; . . . 
and what you fay of the Pole is very ftrange. 
" Difappeared directly after the operation," ■ — 
humph ! Why did he go ? Where can he have 
gone ? How do we know his name really was 
Radzinfki ? How do we know Spurzheim knew 
anything about him fave in a profeffional way? 

No time for more ; muft gird up my loins 

now for the trial. Courage, patience ! 

Yours, 

Joe. 



Dhacca. 
Dear Patty, — Thank God, the boy is 
fafe ! The trial is over. I never . . . ex- 
citing 



88 An Unclofeted Skeleton, 

citing and exhaufting a fcene. As I faid be- 
fore, there was no evidence againft Ralph 
worth confidering . . . All went well till R. 
fuddenly took it into his head to rife in the 
prifoner's dock and offer himfelf as a wit- 
nefs. Defpite all we could do, too, he infilled 
upon it, and thereupon took the ftand and 
repeated his confeffion in open court. The 
profecution promptly moved for judgment 
upon the confeffion ; but our counfel from 
Calcutta, a very aftute man, infifted upon his 
right to examine the witnefs. He was very 
adroit ; he addreffed R. kindly and fympa- 
thetically, and led him on to defcribe the de- 
tails ... all faw at once not only that, but 
times, places, and incidents were fo wholly 
different from the known facts in the Seik's 
cafe. While this was going on I faw Budding- 
ton making towards me . . . and an Englifh 
merchant whom he prefented. The Engli 
. . . whifpered, " This is all about a famous 

murder 






An Unclofeted Skeleton, 89 

murder committed in Calcutta ten years ago." 
I notified our counfel directly . . . The Eng- 
lishman was placed in the witnefs-box, and 
teftified as to the former crime ; the official 
records were brought, confirming the evidence 
. . . great fenfation in court. 

Following hard upon this came the affidavits 
from Bofton as to the operation on Ralph, and 
the fcene at the King's Chapel ; then I took 
the ftand, and by his certificate of baptifm and 
his diploma mowed that Ralph was a Latin 
School boy in roundabouts ten years ago. 
And fo the thing was done. Nothing more 
curious in the whole proceeding than Ralph's 
own profound aftonifhment at the account of 
the operation. He ftared at me with abforbed 
intereft, feeling unconfcioufly of the left fide 
of his head and . . . 

Among the natives . . . the moft intenfe in- 
tereft manifefted in the trial . . . court-room 

crowded 



90 An Unclofeted Skeleton* 

crowded . . . line the ftreet . . . with breath- 
lefs intereft . . . and will infallibly regard 
the refult with diftruft and fufpicion. . . . 

By advice of the officials, Ralph was 
quietly fmuggled away as foon as it was 
known he was acquitted . . . He is now 
clofely watched and guarded . . . The city 
in a turmoil over the news that he has 
efcaped. 

R. himfelf has not recovered from the 
defcription of the Spurzheim operation ; it 
was a ftartling revelation to him. One refult 
of his reflection has already appeared : this 
morning I faw in the mail a letter directed to 
Rachel Cleverly. 

I need not defcribe to you the delight of 
Buddington ; he has fhown the tendereft fym- 
pathy and confideration all through . . . nor 
that we fhall lofe no time in getting away 
from here. 

You will be glad to hear that the real cul- 
prit 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 9 1 

prit is found ; and who, do you think ... no 
lefs a perfon than . . . nurfed his vengeance 
for years . . . entered his fervice with that 
diabolical intent ... his bufinefs, murder 
and affaffination . . . and difdained even to 
rob his victim. 

We leave here day after to-morrow. Bud- 
dington will go with us as far as Calcutta . . . 
and Ralph himfelf is frantic to get home . . . ; 
has been a different man fince he heard that 
fecret paffage in his hiftory . . . and broods 
over it conftantly. 

Will try to write you a word from Calcutta ; 
till when good-by. 

From your brother 

Joe. 

Boston, June 5, 1835. 

Dear Joe, — ... and you can imagine 
our ftate of mind fince. Aunt M. was clean 
befide herfelf for the firft time in her life, and 

I 



92 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

I felt more like a fpinning-top than a human 
being . . . Then he has grown and devel- 
oped f o ; why didn't you tell us? Oh, Joe, 
what a fine, manly creature he is ! What a 
large, generous way he has, and withal an air 
fo potent ! 

You were right about . . . hardly been 
here an hour when he began to grow reftlefs, 
and at laft fairly tore himfelf from Aunt M.'s 
embraces to hurry around and fee her . . . 
and it culminated when he brought her back 
with him to tea . . . evident at a glance that 
it was all " fixed up." Dear Rachel, fo 
fweet, fo ready to forgive, fo brave to dare 
the tragic chances fuch companionfhip may 
bring ! Dear Ralph, fo penitent, fo loyal, 
fo devoted, — at his poffible worft " like 
fweet bells jangled out of tune," and nothing 
more. 

Such an evening as that, — fuch excitement, 
fuch tears, fuch laughter, fuch noife, fuch in- 
coherence, 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 93 

coherence, fuch a delightful jumble of Bed- 
lam and Paradife as I fhall never know again 
on earth ! I went to bed hoarfe as a crow, 
with a lump as big as a potato in my throat, 
my head on fire, my feet like ice, with a 
vague impreffion that a calendar year had 
paffed fince funrife. . . . 

Ralph has at laft had a talk with his mother. 
I knew it was coming ; for days he has had 
intermittent fits of fathomlefs gloom. You 
need not be told the fubject of that talk. 
Dear, dear, dear me ! Aunt M. came, with 
ftreaming eyes, to tell me of it and of the 
poor boy's hopelefs, abject mifery under the 
dark cloud which fhadows his life . . . and 
confulted perfonally all the doctors who were 
prefent. He is very curious, too, to learn 
more of Radzinfki, and has already fet on foot 
inquiries to difcover fomething of his hiftory 
or whereabouts, if ftill living. 

We 



94 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

We have had all the town here to vifit. 
Ralph was always a favorite, and as foon as it 
got out that he had come home cured, all his 
old friends came flocking in. 

. . . nothing publicly known, of courfe, 
about the trial in India. The doctors figning 
the affidavit advife Aunt M. to keep filent, 
things get fo exaggerated and diftorted . . . 
do no good, and prejudice R. for years. 

A molt, fingular and ingenious device dif- 
covered for Ralph's relief ! He is enthufiaftic ; 
we are all hopeful over it. 'T is fo fimple, and 
feems fo reafonable. And who do you think 
difcovered it, invented, fuggefted, or thought 
it up ? Why, Rachel ; yes, really. Does n't 
it feem as if there were moral compenfations 
in life ? I don't know what a moral compen- 
fation is, but I mean, does n't it feem queer, 
weird, fupernatural, — or whatever the prop- 

ereft 



An Unclofeted Skeleton, 95 

ereft word is, — that Jlie fhould have difcov- 
ered it ? 

" What is it ? " Why, I am coming to that 
this very minute : fhe fuggefts that he fhall 
keep always with him a chronological index ! 

There, now, you are none the wifer ! I 
knew you would n't be. I gloried in the 
thought ; it is fo delightful to be able to 
teach you one thing, after all your years and 
years of patronage and condefcenfion. Well, 
then, a chronological index is a brief tabulated 
account or lift of all the momentous events of 
one's life, with dates attached. Very good ; 
now note the refult. Armed with fuch a vade- 
mecum, all Ralph has to do when any ftrange 
or uncanny remembrance feizes him is to 
whip out his chronological index, and deter- 
mine at a glance whether he is remembering 
as Ralph Wheaton the Yankee, or Ludovic 
Radzinfki the Pole, and acl accordingly. 

Think if he had but been provided with fuch 



g6 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

a fafeguard on that day at King's Chapel, or 
through thofe terrible fcenes in India ! We 
are all ecftatic over the difcovery ; it feems 
once for all to fettle the trouble. At any 
rate, it has already lifted the heavy load that 
lay on Aunt M.'s heart, and delivered Ralph 
forth from the dark and pitiable melancholy 
which was fall fettling upon him. And now 
nothing remains to interfere with . . . 

This letter, as you fee, has already been 
dragging its flow length along for feveral 
days, fo I will now make an end of it. But I 
cannot flop without faying that Aunt M. will 
never, never forget your care and efforts in 
Ralph's behalf. I tell her — but no matter 
what I tell her ; you are too conceited already. 
From your doting filler Patty. 

Boston, Sept. 12, 1S35. 
Now, Joe, you will never be fo unreafon- 
able as to look for coherence, rhetoric, or in- 
telligence 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 97 

telligence in this letter. You will not want 
to hear much ; the turmoil we are in would 
drive you to diffraction. I can only think of 
the witches' fong in " Macbeth " (or wherever 
elfe it was in Shakfpeare), " Mingle! mingle! 
mingle ! " We do mingle ; we do fcarcely 
anything elfe. We mingle conftantly, we 
mingle frantically ; we not only mingle 
things, — everything about us, — but we 
mingle ourfelves. I am mingled fo hopeleffly 
with frills and tuckers, ravellings, patches, and 
fhreds, that my pure, mining, unadulterated 
felf will never more be feen on earth. 

. . . and you need not afk what 't is all 
about. Rachel's trouffeau is being made here. 
Poor girl ! fhe had nowhere elfe ... he 
wants it again at King's Chapel, that the 
memory of that former day may be . . . but 
Rachel will not hear of it ; not even the efful- 
gence of her prefent happinefs can make her 
forget that dreadful time ; and fo 't is to be 
7 here 



98 An Unclofeted Skeleton. 

here at home, and quiet as may be. Every- 
thing . . . and even the cake made in our 
own kitchen. 

In the midft of all the hurly-burly a little 
incident . . . which has comforted us all 
very much. Dr. L., who follows Ralph round 
like a confidant in an old French play, — when 
he is not following fome one elfe, you know, 
— was wandering the other day through a 
fide ftreet with him, when they came upon that 
moft unufual thing in Bolton, a Jewifh fyna- 
gogue (you remember it), and pufhed in. A 
marriage ceremony was going on. Ralph 
looked bewildered, then ftartled, Dr. L. fays, 
juft as he did that day at King's Chapel ; 
then fuddenly feized Dr. L.'s arm and drag- 
ged him out, muttering, " No, no ; I never 
was there, that was his wedding ! " For an 
hour afterwards he rufhed Dr. L. up and 
down the Common in the wildeft excitement. 
In the end he calmed down, more like his 

former 



An Unclofeted Skeleton. 99 

former felf than we have feen him fmce com- 
ing back; bringing Dr. L. home to tell Rachel 
another event in her chronology of Radzin- 
fki. We thanked Dr. L. for helping R. to 
fight out this firft battle with himfelf ; but he 
faid, " Since I helped put Radzinfki's foreign 
tongues into his head, the leaft I can do is 
to help wipe out the memory of his foreign 
wives." 

If you could live and breathe twenty-four 
hours in this Puritan atmofphere, I could fain 
wifh for you to pop in upon us now, — fuch 
an ecftatic houfehold . . . and I really be- 
lieve Aunt M. is as fondly, foolifhly happy as 
they themfelves. 

Your prefent has arrived ; it is exquifite ; 
we are in fits of rapture over it. How did 
you ever think of fending it, before you ever 
knew that . . . and your congratulations too, 

— it 



ioo An Unclofeted Skeleton* 

— it is downright uncanny ...I'm fure I 
did n't even whifper a word about a wedding 
in my laft. I was fworn to fecrecy. 

It has come and gone, — how like a dream, 
like a meteor in the Iky, like an anthem on 
the organ, like everything beautiful, joyous, 
and tranfitory . . . but I cannot defcribe it. 
I am limp with reaction ; my heart is cram- 
med to burfting with unadulterated content ; 
my brain reels with fweet reminifcences ; a 
glory of funfhine, fongs of birds, perfume of 
flowers, fweet congratulations, fooliili tears ; 
and fuch was the end — I mean the beginning. 




f e (9tfjev Worte 

Of ye People who wrote 
"AN UNCLOSETED SKELETON," 

And likewife what hath been fayd of them by 

divers fcribes, and by ye goodlye com- 

panye of ye Newfpaper PreiTe. 

Agnes Surriage 

(By Edwin Lajfetter Bynner) 

is a work of ye fpecies called romance, and treateth faga- 
cioufly of ye long-pan: days of ye noble and much-lamented 
Royal Governors of ye Maffachufetts Bay Province, what 
time ye fouldiers did march away to withftand ye Ffrench 
array before Louifburg, and ye many fair maids of Bofton 
town did fpinne flax on ye Common. She whofe name ye 
booke doth beare, and whofe ftrange and wonderful adven- 
tures it doth fet forth, was a comely lafs of Marblehead, 
borne from her native rocks by a very gallant and debonair 
knight of England. Nor mail we indite further as to what 
befell thefe love-lorn people; for whofo doth take unto 
himfelf the booke, thefe events to determine and afcertain, 
fball have great content. 



Agnes Surriage. 



Now fhall we alfo add hereunto thefe words of many wife 
gentlemen and learned fcholars, that after generations may 
fee with what efteem ye gentles of ye nineteenth century 
looked upon " Agnes Surriage." 

Ye Reverend George Edzoard Ellis faith : " Mr. Bynner, 
keeping clofely to hiftoric facts, weaves the characters and 
incidents into a very delightful and even inftructive narra- 
tive, filled with all the atmofphere, furroundings, and focial 
life of the time and place identified with his ftory. . . . We 
have no equally adequate delineation of life and fociety in 
the Bofton of that time. Old landmarks, ftreets, and homes 
are identified ; the fafhions and amufements of the fcene 
are recalled with hiftoric perfonages. His ftudy of quaint 
old Marblehead has qualified him to fet down for us the 
moft lively and picturefque defcription ever yet drawn of 
it ; and by an effort of patience and fkill moft commenda- 
ble, he has reproduced for us the linguiftic provincialifms 
of the fifher town and people, with their wild, rough ways. 
Not even Dickens has wrought out a more lifelike and 
artiftic interior defcription, colloquy, and ferio-comic re- 
hearfal than Mr. Bynner gives us in an epifode between the 
dry and pious widow at the North End of Bofton — at 
whofe houfe Agnes, the fchool-girl, boarded — and the 
canting elder who was ' courting ' her." 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich faith : " Altogether, we may con- 
gratulate the author on a well-earned fuccefs, and the 
reader on the poffeffion of a new and unufual pleafure. 
Our literature is not fo rich in hiftorical fiction that we 
can afford to neglect fo good a book as this." 



Agnes Surriage. 



Julian Hawthorne faith : " The conception of the char- 
acter of Agnes is ftrong and fine. It has a rich and mellow 
charm. The ftory in its moral afpecl is as Ample as it is 
ftrong." 

Arlo Bates faith : " The editor is pleafed at the fuccefs 
which that admirable hiftorical novel, ' Agnes Surriage,' 
has achieved. The ftory is one of the moft fafcinating and 
romantic in all the colonial records, and it has been dealt 
with in a fpirit keenly alive to all its poflibilities." 

Nora Perry faith : " From chapter to chapter I followed 
the ftory with ever-increaftng intereft, and ever-in creating 
refpecT; for the author's fine art of conftruction. The ftory 
is not only full of charm and reality, but it is beautifully 
put together." 

Ye Academy (of London) faith : " The charm of the tale 
lies in its pathetic central conception, in the brightnefs and 
grace of the general handling, and in the Angularly faithful 
and realizable handling of the focial atmofphere of the old 
colonial days." 

Ye New-York Tribune faith : " Mr. Bynner has found 
an admirable fubje6t for romance in the colonial hiftory 
of Maffachufetts, and he has treated it with diftinguifhed 
fkill." 

Ye Bofton Daily Advertifer faith : " It muft be reckoned 
among the very beft ftories of the feafon, without queftion ; 
and furthermore, let us haften to add that on the fmall 
fhelf which holds all the American hiftorical novels worthy 
of the name, room muft ftraightway be made for ' Agnes 
Surriage.' " 



Agnes Surriage. 



They of London avow, in their Literary World: " Mr. 
Bynner is no ordinary writer, and the old-world tale of 
' Agnes Surriage/ founded on fact, is a ftrange bit of 
hiftorical romance, than which fiction could produce 
no ftranger. The primitive, uncouth fifher community in 
the little bay of Marblehead, on the rocky fliores of Maf- 
fachufetts, is fplendidly defcribed. . . . There is great 
excellence of writing throughout this romance of bygone 
days." 

Alfo Ye Critic, which is y-printed at ye famous Iflande 
of Manhattan, feareth not to fay : " On the bafis of an old 
colonial ftory, E. L. Bynner has, in ' Agnes Surriage,' con- 
ftructed a moft interefling hiftorical novel. He is a thor- 
ough mafter of the art of ftory-telling, holding the reins 
of the tale firmly in his hands, and moving fteadily and 
ftrongly onward in the development of the plot. This is 
what moft ftrikes a reader, — this power of never writing 
a dull or an irrelevant page. But the book has better char- 
acteriftics than this. The characters, true to the middle of 
the eighteenth century, are yet remarkably alive, and have 
no kinfhip with the puppets who throng the pages of fo 
many hiftorical novels. And Agnes and Frankland and 
Commiffary Price are characters well worth drawing. Mr. 
Bynner can finely fhow us the workings of hearts and 
minds through actions and words and looks, but he never 
analyzes : he leaves that to his readers. The atmofphere 
of the ftory has no Puritanifm in it, but its influence is all 
on the fide of a broad catholic morality and purity of life 
and conduct. ' Agnes Surriage ' is worthy of a more than 
ephemeral fuccefs." 



Agnes Surriage. 



Kate Sanborn calleth it "the beft novel that has come 
out of Bofton this generation." 

Ye criticke of ye Pojl doth hold : " Paffion and pathos 
and the fimple but ftrongly marked affections of primitive 
people are interwoven in effective contraft. The material 
which hiftory fupplied the author was rich in romantic and 
dramatic opportunity. Mr. Bynner has enriched it in 
every phafe with a wealth of hiftorical color and incident. 
The reader turns with Frankland, in his ride, to overlook 
Maffachufetts Bay from the bluff at Marblehead, and as 
naturally lhares the wonderment of Agnes Surriage in 
gazing about the walls of Horace Walpole's villa at Twick- 
enham, with its fuggeflions of its earlier occupant." 

Ye literary arbiter of ye Nation addeth : " There is a 
charm about Mr. Bynner's hiftorical romance of colonial 
times which engages the reader's fympathies at the outfet. 
. . . His book is good, and poffeffes, in a rare degree, that 
quality of atmofphere of the period which is fo difficult of 
attainment, in addition to an agreeable ltyle, which is fuit- 
ably ltately, but never heavy." 

And another wight faith: "The blue waters of Maffa- 
chufetts Bay fparkle through its pages, and the ftorm-winds 
are heard whiffling acrofs Marblehead Harbor in the quaint 
old days of the Bay Colony. Bynner has in this romance 
begun a work for our lovely fea-coaft fuch as Sir Walter 
Scott did for the iflands and glens of Scotland, cover- 
ing them with the rich and enduring glamour of poetic 
affociations." 



Penelope s Suitors. — Damens Ghofl. 

Penelope's Suitors. 

(By Edwin Lajfetter Bynner.) 

Few writers of the day have fo well caught the old-time 
favor, which is much enhanced by the archaic printing, the 
long f's, catch-words, and fo on. Altogether, the volume, 
though of veft-pocket fize, is a thoroughly charming bit of 
book-making. — New- York Commercial Advertifer. 

A dainty, old-fafhioned little volume, — a mo ft delightful 
ftory of Bofton in Colonial days. — Chicago Tribtme. 

The whole affair is a delicate jetid'efprit, and will delight 
gentlewomen as well as the man of tafte. — The Beacon. 

Damen's Ghoft 

is ye title of another booke of ye Bynner's devizing, in 
which ye marvellous manner of ye great Charles Dickens 
is brought to mind, howbeit ye original fpirit of ye author 
feeketh no fervile imitation. 

Concerning this book the St. Paul Pio)ieer-Prefs thus : 
" Like Dickens in his happieft vein. . . . The library of 
fiction is enriched by the beft of a good feries." 

Ye Philadelphia Telegraph doth call this ghoftly tale " A 
reflection of Dickens." 

And ye Albany Exprefs concludeth : " It has about it a 
Dickens flavor, and yet is ftrikingly original and thoroughly 
charming." 



'The Peterkin Papers. 



The Peterkin Papers. 

(By Lucretia P. Hale.) 
Square quarto. Copioufly illuftrated. 

The very name of this collection of abfurdly laughable 
(ketches will raife a fmile on the face of the moft lugubrious 
reader. Mifs Hale's humor is irrefiftible. Her accounts 
of the doings and experiences of the Peterkins remind one 
of the ftories of the inhabitant of ancient Gotham who 
tried to drown eels, and to catch birds by unrounding their 
nefts. — Bq/ion Tranfcript. 

You declare the book is too filly for anything ; you vow 
that you will not laugh at what is fo abfurd ; yet you flick 
to the book and make your fides, and hope dear Mifs Hale 
will live forever. In fhort, it is a capital conceit, very 
cleverly wrought out, and full of entertainment for young 
people. — New - York Exprefs. 

People young and old. folemn and gay, rich and poor, 
will be glad to welcome a new edition of the " Peterkin 
Papers." It is pleafant to meet the Peterkin family again, 
all cheerful, hopeful, puzzled, yet confident, — Solomon 
John, Agamemnon, Elizabeth Eliza, the little boys with 
their rubber boots, and the family friend, the benignant and 
wife " Lady from Philadelphia." — Chicago Tribune. 



Ye Prices of ye Bookes hereinbe- 
fore mentioned are thus Jet forth : 

gffnes §>urrtacre, One Dollar and Fifty cents. 

SDameit'fi <©I)0#, One Dollar; or, in Paper Covers, 

Fifty cents. 

Peitelope'6 Suitors, Fifty cents, all y-bound in 
quaint board covers, and tied with gray 
tapes withal, even like unto this prefent 
booke about ye Unclofeted Skeleton. 

ge Ipetedtm Papery One Dollar and Fifty cents, 

And whofoever doth fend to ye Publifhers 
either of ye fummes thus fet forth, in return 
{hall gain unto his Eftate a copy of fuch of the 
bookes as he may demand, free of the charges 
of the Poft. 

TICKNOR fef COMPANY, 

Atte ye figne of 21 1 Tremont Street, Boston, 

In ye Governement of Maffachufetts Bay. 



